What's your favourite booze? - Page 3

Stapel · 01-07-2003, 11:47

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by ProPain

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by stapel

Beerenburg is indeed good too! Weduwe Joustra 38%, only available at the Kleinzand in Sneek is my favourite

Weduwe Joustra

Without doubt the most gross thing I ever drank. Friend gave me a bottle once, after trying it me nor my rommates touched the bottle for years. Even when we were desperate and alcohol deprived, weduwe Joustra wasnt an option. In the end we finished it playing a drinking game with dice iirc. Only time noone wanted to lose during a drinking game ever.

Sigh.... Only the type that can be bought at the Kleinzand..... Your 'friend' probably gave you a louzy export bottle.

Wrong.....

Shabbaman · 01-07-2003, 11:55

The only absolutely unconsumable brew of beerenburg is the variant of hooghoudt from groningen, Kalmoes.

Eklektikos · 01-07-2003, 15:53

I like most kinds of alcoholic drinks, although I'm pretty picky about which examples of each type I'll take.

Taurendil: would "abdijbieren" be beers like Orval, or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

Gothmog · 01-07-2003, 16:49

@staple – I agree that for the price Glenlivet 12 is probably better value than their 18, me brah’ drinks the 12 and it was my first experience with single malt – so holds a special place in my heart. I don’t drink that much and my current bottle is an 18. Sorry about the ice thing, but you’ll pry it from my icy cold dead hands. I do drink it straight too at times. What did you mean by “ice in ice cubes”? as opposed to shavings? Or do you make it cold in some other way. FWIW I don’t like good whisky from the freezer (or other non-ice cube way of making it cold), as it kills the bouquet. Haven’t tasted cat piss myself but Ale comes in so many forms it can’t all taste like cat piss can it? I guess you’re the expert here. I like porters, stouts, and many German specialty beers especially – got to be on tap and preferably brewed on the premises.

I like wine, but mostly drink it with my father, who has great taste.

Aggie · 01-07-2003, 18:44

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Eklektikos

Taurendil: would "abdijbieren" be beers like Orval, or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

That is a perfect example

My favorite beers are all from Belgium:

- Duvel (this one knocks you out when you're not careful)
- Westmalle double and triple
- Leffe double and triple
- Chimay Blue
- many many others.

@Stapel: it is Caol Ila. A typical Islay whisky and my favourite together with Ardbeg and Laphroaig. But Sky named a couple of brands that I like a lot too

OPD · 01-07-2003, 20:51

Wild Turkey now there's a good whisky/bourbon. A friend of mine claimed it was actually stored inside of a dead turkey during the distilling process but he was under the influence at the time. It's something like 50 %.

Taurendil · 02-07-2003, 05:48

Many belgian beers can call themselves "abdijbier". This just means that they were originally brewed in an abbey. They are all strong beers, generally between 7 and 12 degrees, with some stronger exceptions ofcourse. Most breweries will have a few varieties, often a regular version, a double and a triple. Those names have something to do with the fermentation progress. Don't ask me any technical info though, i only drink them. A lot of the brands will also have some special versions, like christmas beers for example. There are dozens of these breweries producing hundreds of different kinds in Belgium alone, so it would be hard to name them here.
What i will list here, as a suggestion of what you all should try as soon as possible, are the "Trapist" beers. Trapist beers are still produced in the abbey where they originated, as opposed to an industrial brewery. There are only 7 trapist-breweries in the world. Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westvleteren, Westmalle and Achel, in Belgium, and Koningshoeven in the Netherlands.
Perhaps some comparisons will help. Trapist beers compare to abbey-beers like Champagne compares to 'methode champignoise'. Many great beers aren't trapist, but all trapist are great beers. Abbey-beers (strong beers, special beers, whatever you call it) compare to lager like, say, a cigar to a cigarette. Lagers are fine, and can be great to drink any/every day, or to party with. (Try Jupiler, Stella Artois, or Primus for some fine belgian examples.) But strong beers are a whole different league. I was about to add another comparison including Heineken and dishwater here, but as so many dutch people read this i won't.
This man, with a very unfortunate name, knows a lot more about beer then I do.

Taurendil · 02-07-2003, 05:58

Yes, i'm getting a bit overzealous here, but you people got me started on this subject

. This is a short story from the site i mentioned in my last post. It's for those of you that don't know belgian beers yet.

Life after lager

John Lennon and Yoko Ono were holding a "Bed In" at the Amsterdam Hilton; elsewhere in the city, gay sex had burst out of the closet; and soft drugs were the choice of cafe society. I had gone to Amsterdam as a journalist and somehow stayed for the summer of love. Like Lennon I refused to conform - I favoured the opposite sex. And I eschewed cannabis in favour of its sister plant the hop.

Amsterdam was abroad in those days. "Abroad" meant that there was only lager; no other type of beer. So I thought.

The local brews were Heineken and Amstel, though Grolsch was delivered by the milkman (an arrangement I have not found anywhere else in the world). These were acceptable enough, but they seemed to taste pretty much the same, and I was soon bored with them. The best I could hope for was occasionally to find a lager from a less well known, smaller, brewery. I gradually learned that most of the smaller breweries in The Netherlands were in the Catholic south.

My girlfriend and I headed down there for the pre-Lenten Carnival, the Dutch equivalent to the German Fasching or Louisiana's Mardi Gras. Somewhere, we got off the train. Which town? Maastricht, perhaps? That day, they all looked the same. We were sucked into a crowd, beers in hand, who seemed to be in endless circulation through the station cafe. The station square was full of drinking, dancing and Beatle music. The whole town was drunk, and soon we were, too.

Amid the endless golden glasses of Dutch lager, someone wearing a John Lennon mask handed me a chalice containing a darker beer. Caution long to the winds, I took a gulp. I was quite unprepared for the richness of the brew and, a moment later, the hit of alcohol, somewhere around the top of the head.

"You like it?!" He looked surprised, dazed even. Perhaps he had enjoyed a few glasses himself. "Yes", I replied. "It's terrific".

Then he gave me some advice, which I would take, groggily, the following morning. "If you like that sort of beer," he intoned almost gravely, "you really ought to go across the border." Then the night and the alcohol and the jostling crowd and the music took us our separate ways. I never learned his name, nor saw the face behind the mask.

Next day, hungover and bedraggled, I crossed the border, a refugee from

The Netherlanders' annual moment of uninhibition.

It was my first visit to Belgium. I had discovered that not all foreign beer was lager. I soon began to realise that Belgium had a selection of beer-styles such as I had never seen. I stayed for a long weekend. When I left, something inside of me had changed. The process had begun that would make me devote the rest of my life to one story. I was already becoming a beer writer, though I did not know that at the time. Nor was there for the moment such an occupation. Twenty years later, Prince Philippe of Belgium presented me with an award for my services to beer.

Today, I read travel articles about Belgium, in which the writer will observe: "Remember, they have great beer in Belgium." I don't know whether to laugh or cry. If the article offers no more information, the visitor will ask for "a beer" and be presented with a Stella Artois, which he could equally well have found at home. I usually ask what is local. Or in my best "When Harry Met Sally" mode: "I'll have what he's having."

Something the colour of an English bitter, but in a generous curved glass, was what most people seemed to be having on that first visit. It was the local beer, and still is. I know of no city in the world, other than Dublin, where a single local brew inspires such pride and loyalty.

We were in a street-corner bar, lavatorially white-tiled, but somehow cosy nonetheless. I pointed to a glass and gestured that I would like the same. "Bollecke?" responded the barman. It turned out that this vulgar-sounding riposte referred to the shape of the glass. A bolleke ("little ball") always contains a beer called De Koninck. This is technically very similar to a British ale, but more aromatic, softer and spicier. In this instance, it is the particular yeast culture that contributes the spicy flavours. Other Belgian beers do use spices, herbs and fruits.

De Koninck is soft that it slips down with soothing sociability; so tangy and perfumy that each glass invites another. I lost an afternoon in that bar, and never found it again.

Almost every beer about which I rhapsodised would subsequently appear in the United States but less quickly, if at all, in Britain. Then someone told me that De Koninck was available at the Bank restaurant, at that time new and very fashionable, in London. I went to see for myself. The bar was very busy - surrounded four deep. I shouted to the bartender: "Do you really have De Koninck?" He smiled, lifted his bollekes (he had two) and triumphantly banged them together above his head.

col · 02-07-2003, 08:24

Ah yes Belgian beers. Two of my friends have an annual beer weekend in Bruges and Ghent. We can get many Belgian beers over here - I'm quite fond of Duvals. There are some great real ales in Scarborough too. Over the last few years CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) has had real succes in encouraging small breweries to be set up and fluorish. There are several pubs here that serve a wide choice of good beers. Of course if you walk into an average English pub and ask for beer, you will be served a foul tasting glass of coloured water. The reason why so many people say they dont like beer is that all they have drunk is the mass produced piss that uses the same name. Taste the real stuff and you will be hooked for life.....

Stapel · 02-07-2003, 11:12

ice in ice cubes was just a typo....

@Taurendil: nice post.

My fav beer in NL is Grolsch! But I must admit De Koninck is the best beer in the world. I also like the southern german Weissebiere a lot!

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Gothmog

@staple – I agree that for the price Glenlivet 12 is probably better value than their 18, me brah’ drinks the 12 and it was my first experience with single malt – so holds a special place in my heart. I don’t drink that much and my current bottle is an 18. Sorry about the ice thing, but you’ll pry it from my icy cold dead hands. I do drink it straight too at times. What did you mean by “ice in ice cubes”? as opposed to shavings? Or do you make it cold in some other way. FWIW I don’t like good whisky from the freezer (or other non-ice cube way of making it cold), as it kills the bouquet. Haven’t tasted cat piss myself but Ale comes in so many forms it can’t all taste like cat piss can it? I guess you’re the expert here. I like porters, stouts, and many German specialty beers especially – got to be on tap and preferably brewed on the premises.

I like wine, but mostly drink it with my father, who has great taste.

View Poll Results: What's your favourite booze?
Beer	9	25.71%
Wine	4	11.43%
Gin <and ?>	2	5.71%
Vodka <and ?>	4	11.43%
Whisky <and ?>	11	31.43%
Rum <and ?>	2	5.71%
Cocktail (please specify)	2	5.71%
Other booze	1	2.86%
Voters: 35. You may not vote on this poll

01-07-2003, 11:55	#22
Shabbaman Administrator Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Costa La Haya Posts: 8,494	The only absolutely unconsumable brew of beerenburg is the variant of hooghoudt from groningen, Kalmoes. __________________ "Our spam is backed with COMETS!"

02-07-2003, 05:48	#27
Taurendil Join Date: May 2003 Location: Belgium. Posts: 63	Many belgian beers can call themselves "abdijbier". This just means that they were originally brewed in an abbey. They are all strong beers, generally between 7 and 12 degrees, with some stronger exceptions ofcourse. Most breweries will have a few varieties, often a regular version, a double and a triple. Those names have something to do with the fermentation progress. Don't ask me any technical info though, i only drink them. A lot of the brands will also have some special versions, like christmas beers for example. There are dozens of these breweries producing hundreds of different kinds in Belgium alone, so it would be hard to name them here. What i will list here, as a suggestion of what you all should try as soon as possible, are the "Trapist" beers. Trapist beers are still produced in the abbey where they originated, as opposed to an industrial brewery. There are only 7 trapist-breweries in the world. Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westvleteren, Westmalle and Achel, in Belgium, and Koningshoeven in the Netherlands. Perhaps some comparisons will help. Trapist beers compare to abbey-beers like Champagne compares to 'methode champignoise'. Many great beers aren't trapist, but all trapist are great beers. Abbey-beers (strong beers, special beers, whatever you call it) compare to lager like, say, a cigar to a cigarette. Lagers are fine, and can be great to drink any/every day, or to party with. (Try Jupiler, Stella Artois, or Primus for some fine belgian examples.) But strong beers are a whole different league. I was about to add another comparison including Heineken and dishwater here, but as so many dutch people read this i won't. This man, with a very unfortunate name, knows a lot more about beer then I do. __________________ Impotent man looking for frigid woman to sit around and do nothing.

02-07-2003, 05:58	#28
Taurendil Join Date: May 2003 Location: Belgium. Posts: 63	Yes, i'm getting a bit overzealous here, but you people got me started on this subject . This is a short story from the site i mentioned in my last post. It's for those of you that don't know belgian beers yet. Life after lager John Lennon and Yoko Ono were holding a "Bed In" at the Amsterdam Hilton; elsewhere in the city, gay sex had burst out of the closet; and soft drugs were the choice of cafe society. I had gone to Amsterdam as a journalist and somehow stayed for the summer of love. Like Lennon I refused to conform - I favoured the opposite sex. And I eschewed cannabis in favour of its sister plant the hop. Amsterdam was abroad in those days. "Abroad" meant that there was only lager; no other type of beer. So I thought. The local brews were Heineken and Amstel, though Grolsch was delivered by the milkman (an arrangement I have not found anywhere else in the world). These were acceptable enough, but they seemed to taste pretty much the same, and I was soon bored with them. The best I could hope for was occasionally to find a lager from a less well known, smaller, brewery. I gradually learned that most of the smaller breweries in The Netherlands were in the Catholic south. My girlfriend and I headed down there for the pre-Lenten Carnival, the Dutch equivalent to the German Fasching or Louisiana's Mardi Gras. Somewhere, we got off the train. Which town? Maastricht, perhaps? That day, they all looked the same. We were sucked into a crowd, beers in hand, who seemed to be in endless circulation through the station cafe. The station square was full of drinking, dancing and Beatle music. The whole town was drunk, and soon we were, too. Amid the endless golden glasses of Dutch lager, someone wearing a John Lennon mask handed me a chalice containing a darker beer. Caution long to the winds, I took a gulp. I was quite unprepared for the richness of the brew and, a moment later, the hit of alcohol, somewhere around the top of the head. "You like it?!" He looked surprised, dazed even. Perhaps he had enjoyed a few glasses himself. "Yes", I replied. "It's terrific". Then he gave me some advice, which I would take, groggily, the following morning. "If you like that sort of beer," he intoned almost gravely, "you really ought to go across the border." Then the night and the alcohol and the jostling crowd and the music took us our separate ways. I never learned his name, nor saw the face behind the mask. Next day, hungover and bedraggled, I crossed the border, a refugee from The Netherlanders' annual moment of uninhibition. It was my first visit to Belgium. I had discovered that not all foreign beer was lager. I soon began to realise that Belgium had a selection of beer-styles such as I had never seen. I stayed for a long weekend. When I left, something inside of me had changed. The process had begun that would make me devote the rest of my life to one story. I was already becoming a beer writer, though I did not know that at the time. Nor was there for the moment such an occupation. Twenty years later, Prince Philippe of Belgium presented me with an award for my services to beer. Today, I read travel articles about Belgium, in which the writer will observe: "Remember, they have great beer in Belgium." I don't know whether to laugh or cry. If the article offers no more information, the visitor will ask for "a beer" and be presented with a Stella Artois, which he could equally well have found at home. I usually ask what is local. Or in my best "When Harry Met Sally" mode: "I'll have what he's having." Something the colour of an English bitter, but in a generous curved glass, was what most people seemed to be having on that first visit. It was the local beer, and still is. I know of no city in the world, other than Dublin, where a single local brew inspires such pride and loyalty. We were in a street-corner bar, lavatorially white-tiled, but somehow cosy nonetheless. I pointed to a glass and gestured that I would like the same. "Bollecke?" responded the barman. It turned out that this vulgar-sounding riposte referred to the shape of the glass. A bolleke ("little ball") always contains a beer called De Koninck. This is technically very similar to a British ale, but more aromatic, softer and spicier. In this instance, it is the particular yeast culture that contributes the spicy flavours. Other Belgian beers do use spices, herbs and fruits. De Koninck is soft that it slips down with soothing sociability; so tangy and perfumy that each glass invites another. I lost an afternoon in that bar, and never found it again. Almost every beer about which I rhapsodised would subsequently appear in the United States but less quickly, if at all, in Britain. Then someone told me that De Koninck was available at the Bank restaurant, at that time new and very fashionable, in London. I went to see for myself. The bar was very busy - surrounded four deep. I shouted to the bartender: "Do you really have De Koninck?" He smiled, lifted his bollekes (he had two) and triumphantly banged them together above his head. __________________ Impotent man looking for frigid woman to sit around and do nothing.

02-07-2003, 08:24	#29
col King Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: South Sandwich Islands. Posts: 1,529	Ah yes Belgian beers. Two of my friends have an annual beer weekend in Bruges and Ghent. We can get many Belgian beers over here - I'm quite fond of Duvals. There are some great real ales in Scarborough too. Over the last few years CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) has had real succes in encouraging small breweries to be set up and fluorish. There are several pubs here that serve a wide choice of good beers. Of course if you walk into an average English pub and ask for beer, you will be served a foul tasting glass of coloured water. The reason why so many people say they dont like beer is that all they have drunk is the mass produced piss that uses the same name. Taste the real stuff and you will be hooked for life..... __________________ I can't be arsed.

01-07-2003, 15:53	#23
Eklektikos Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: United Kingdom. Posts: 112	I like most kinds of alcoholic drinks, although I'm pretty picky about which examples of each type I'll take. Taurendil: would "abdijbieren" be beers like Orval, or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

01-07-2003, 16:49	#24
Gothmog Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Angband. Posts: 334	@staple – I agree that for the price Glenlivet 12 is probably better value than their 18, me brah’ drinks the 12 and it was my first experience with single malt – so holds a special place in my heart. I don’t drink that much and my current bottle is an 18. Sorry about the ice thing, but you’ll pry it from my icy cold dead hands. I do drink it straight too at times. What did you mean by “ice in ice cubes”? as opposed to shavings? Or do you make it cold in some other way. FWIW I don’t like good whisky from the freezer (or other non-ice cube way of making it cold), as it kills the bouquet. Haven’t tasted cat piss myself but Ale comes in so many forms it can’t all taste like cat piss can it? I guess you’re the expert here. I like porters, stouts, and many German specialty beers especially – got to be on tap and preferably brewed on the premises. I like wine, but mostly drink it with my father, who has great taste.

01-07-2003, 20:51	#26
OPD Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: United Kingdom. Posts: 128	Wild Turkey now there's a good whisky/bourbon. A friend of mine claimed it was actually stored inside of a dead turkey during the distilling process but he was under the influence at the time. It's something like 50 %.